February 23, 2010

Iwo Jima Casualties: How Many?


The battle of Iwo Jima is one of the most well-known events in American military history, a fierce struggle between US and Japanese troops that ended with American Marines planting their flag at the top of the mountain.

But there were many, many casualties in that battle, and as events played out even several of the men seen in that triumphant photograph wound up not surviving the war.

In the Iwo Jima conflict there at least an estimated 6,821 American troops killed in combat and 19,217 wounded. And for the Japanese the toll was even more severe, with about 18,000 killed.

Many other Japanese also took their own lives in a tradition of ritual suicide, and the total number of Allied Forces that died is also said to be much higher.

Iwo Jima Casualties
wiki

Of the 22,786 Japanese soldiers entrenched on the island, 21,570 died either from fighting or by ritual suicide. Only 216 were captured during the battle. The Allied forces suffered 26,038 casualties, with 6,821 killed in action. The number of American casualties was greater than the total Allied casualties on D-Day (estimated at 10,000, with 125,847 American casualties during the entire Operation Overlord)] Iwo Jima was also the only U.S. Marine battle where the American casualties exceeded the Japanese, ..

Iwo Jima Casualties

Posted at February 23, 2010 1:29 AM